“Again!” she commanded. “Slower this time.”

The other one nodded and bent to her work. And then there were two women moaning and thrashing while one made noisy slurps that carried through the night air.

“And this is how they entertain themselves at this hour?” Ji Yue asked. “While others watch?”

“At night and during the day sometimes. How else can they occupy their time with no children to care for and no man to ease their suffering.”

“But surely when Dao Guang was alive-”

“This is the lowest harem. He never called for any of them. All of them are still virgins, all imprisoned in the Forbidden City, unable to leave even to visit their own families. Most are not told when their parents die. Their life is reduced to this palace and these spectacles.”

She shuddered at the thought. “Surely not all do this.”

“No. Only a few. Others spend their time in petty rivalries and cruel revenges. Many have turned to religion, a few to music and poetry. But I have seen as many as a dozen in that room, including eunuchs.”

“And how many watched from here?” she asked, at last able to turn away from the sight.

His teeth flashed white as he grinned. “I feared for the tree that night, so many were perched here or had climbed into the branches.”

Ji Yue didn’t dare look into his face when she asked her next question. So she let her gaze drop to his corded neck while her fingers toyed with a rough tear in her skirt. “Have you ever joined the…the revelry in there?”

He shook his head. “I am a whole man. I would be killed were I to enter.”

She looked up to see his face. There was a kind of mischief in his eyes and she knew the truth. “You have joined them there!” she accused.

He shook his head. “Never. I swear.”

“But you have done something. You have the same look my brothers have when they have stolen tarts.”

He grinned, his teeth flashing in the darkness. “I have been on this platform with women who are not protected virgins.” He leaned forward and touched her face. His hand slipped down her cheek and then brushed across her nipple so that tingles shot through her body. Before she could do more than gasp, she felt his other hand glide up her thigh. The rips in her skirt gave him many places to touch, many places to burrow. She felt his hand curve around the top of her thigh to stroke against her curls.

“Have you ever experienced what those women do? Have you ever felt the tremors rack your body as you cry out in joy?”

She shook her head. Never had she done such things.

“You were so creamy before,” he said as his hand slid deeper between her legs. “Has seeing this made it so again? Do you even understand what I am asking?”

“No,” she breathed, though she gave no power to the word because, of course, she did understand in part. Her thighs were wet, and her womb quivered in desire. And she had thought so much of these things, even before entering the Forbidden City. She had seen dogs in copulation, heard the moans from her parents’ bedroom and even watched as servants met in secret in the back garden. So she did know some, and she wondered. She most especially wondered what it would be like to experience such a thing with him.

Behind them, the concubines’ cries were reaching fever pitch. And in the darkness of their tree bower, Ji Yue let her legs spread the tiniest bit. Then a bit further as his fingers delved deeper.

It was the knuckle of his index finger, she believed, that pushed against her first. She gasped in shock and had to grip his shoulders to steady herself. But that lifted her higher up, which gave him more room as he stroked between her petals.

“Yes,” he said, “I believe you have been using your cream again.”

Blood roared in her ears, her entire body was on fire, but her attention was centered on the place where his long finger stroked, rolling ever so slowly from front to back. Every knuckle made her shiver, and she released a high keening sigh.

“No man has ever touched you like this?” he asked. “You have never done this to yourself?”

“Never,” she gasped. If only she’d known what it felt like before. Her skin seemed to pulse and her body throbbed where he touched.

“Good,” he said as he turned his hand over so that he cupped her fully. His hand was large and intimate, and she felt as if he held the whole of her in his palm. “Then you will remember me always,” he said as he pushed a finger inside her.

She cried out in alarm. No man had ever penetrated her like that before. But it felt good. Wicked, but good. Then he withdrew, rolling his knuckles forward across a place she’d only discovered with him earlier that day.

“Move as you will,” he murmured as he leaned forward to support her upper body better. “Make whatever sounds you like. They are common here.”

She didn’t want to act so wantonly. She knew this was not the behavior of a virgin, and yet how could she stop when his hand and body urged her to move? Her thighs tightened and she rose higher on her knees. Without her willing it so, her back began to arch, and her hips thrust forward and back, forward and back over his hand.

“So hot,” he whispered. “So wet. I cannot believe you are a virgin.”

“I’ve never-” she gasped, her mind splintering.

His fingers moved without pattern. Or perhaps she could not understand the pattern, for her mind was completely absorbed in the feel of his fingers on her body, the sweet thunder of her heart and the wildness he drew from her so effortlessly. She was shaking, her buttocks lifting and lowering her as he spoke encouragement. Chest to chest, he held her while he pressed his finger inside again, then pulled it out, pressed it in and pulled it out.

“Kiss me,” he said against her ear. “Kiss me so you do not scream.”

She had no strength to do anything, but he had power enough for them both. He pressed his mouth to hers and thrust his tongue inside. He explored every part of her mouth while still touching her rhythmically below. And then it happened.

She cried out, her mouth fused to his. She clenched her muscles, then contracted them. A bliss radiated through every inch of her, every pore. He held her as the contractions roared through her blood. He kept his mouth on hers, his hand cupping her and his finger deep inside, still thrusting into her. She felt him there as her body tightened around him and her mind splintered from the wonder of it all.

Such bliss!

And when the shudders eased, when the breath returned to her body and her thighs relaxed downward, he still held her tight, supporting her as she fell back onto her heels. He pressed tiny kisses to her cheek, then down her neck. His hand remained cupped against her body, his one finger still pressed deep inside her. She did not move to close her legs. She did not have the strength.

“That was wonderful,” she whispered.

“There is more,” he said.

She blinked. She could not imagine more. Then he lifted his head, his eyes twinkling in the darkness.

“Did you not hear Tai Lai?” he asked. “She said, ‘Again. This time slower.’”